AHWR Post Graduate Biodiversity Study Grant

Pictures by Mary Retallack: A snapshot of some of the arthropods visiting Bursaria spinosa in the Adelaide Hills in January 2012

Local viticulturist named as the inaugural recipient of the AHWR Post Graduate Biodiversity Study Grant

“The Adelaide Hills Wine Region Environment Committee is
proud to have created the opportunity to support a postgraduate level student in the form of our AHWR Post Graduate Biodiversity Study Grant. We are delighted to be able to offer this grant for the first time to Mary Retallack whose project on the role of native insectaria within the vineyard ecosystem will significantly contribute to our understanding of native vineyard biodiversity, a topic of significant interest to the AHWR Environment Committee.” Janet Klein,
Convener AHWREC

Mary Retallack who is based in Crafers West in the Adelaide Hills has been awarded the inaugural AHWR Post Graduate Biodiversity Study Grant from the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, to support her PhD studies at Adelaide University over the next three years.

Mary will be evaluating the role of native insectaria plants and their capacity to provide food and shelter to boost beneficial arthropod populations in vineyards throughout the year.

The aim is to provide greater biological pest control
options in vineyards.

“I am delighted to be able to carry out my PhD studies in the Adelaide Hills with operating and 'in kind' support provided by the AHWR, via the Post Graduate Biodiversity Study Grant, which is vital to the success of my PhD project.
Partnering with the AHWR provides assistance with the
operational side of the project to cover expenses including travel to vineyards in the Adelaide Hills to collect data, the purchase of laboratory supplies including rare earth marker compounds, insect rearing materials, yellow sticky traps and laboratory analysis of insects.” Mary Retallack

Mary will work under the supervision of Associate Professor Michael A Keller at The University of Adelaide - School of Agriculture, Food and Wine - Waite Campus

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Background

The preservation of pre-European (remnant) plant
communities, and revegetating with native plant species that are well adapted to vineyard production areas, can enhance the activities of predatory organisms that control pests.

Existing vegetation structures such as windbreaks,
vegetation corridors, mid-row, and headland plantings, can
be enhanced to provide resources beneficial predatory
species (“beneficials”) to control pests in vineyards
throughout the year.

“Insectaria” plants provide resources such as food (pollen
and nectar), shelter and alternative prey that nourish
beneficial predatory species and extend their presence in
vineyards.

This project aims to broaden our understanding of ecosystem services (ES) that are provided by selected native plant species.

The goal of the project is to provide detailed information
to viticulturists, so they can make informed decisions about pest control options, while reducing the amount of
agricultural chemicals applied in vineyards.

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Objectives

1. To identify suitable native plant species to act as insectaria in and around horticultural crops.
2. Identify whith native species provide insectaria benefits (accessible food and shelter) to beneficials at key times during the year.
3. Assess these relationships to establish which native plants provide insectaria benefits to beneficials, at what times during the growing season and the overwintering requirements of beneficials
4. Develop a short list of native plants for winegrowers that are suited to their vineyard location and may provide insectaria benefits resulting in less chemical inputs applied to the grapevines.
5. Use this project to start a broader dialogue with winegrowers and a greater understanding of wider ecosystem management goals between horticultural production areas and regions.

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Questions

1. What resources (shelter, food, accessibility) do native plant species in and near vineyards provide to beneficials and when?
2. What are the relationships between the behaviour of beneficials and native insectaria species?

    

3. What insectaria species can be used to bridge the provisioning gaps throughout the entire growing season?
4. How can winegrowers apply this information to gain better pest control in vineyards?

By exploring these questions Mary aim’s to develop an
approach for using insectaria that is tailored to Australian conditions and consistently provides bio-control benefits in vineyards.

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Approach

1. Native plants present in remnant vegetation communities near vineyards will be catalogued, to assess their benefit as insectaria.
2. Beneficial species that are easily identifiable such as ladybird beetles, damsel bugs, green and brown lacewings, assassin bugs, predatory shield bugs, hover  flies, rove beetles, hover flies, rove beetles, spiders and tachinid flies will be systematically sampled throughout the year.
3. Rare earth (trace element) rubidium (Rb) and cesium (Cs) will be used to mark insectaria vegetation to identify arthropods that visit the marked vegetation. Yellow sticky traps and pitfall traps will be used to monitor their movements on insectaria plants, grapevines and other vineyard vegetation throughout the year.

This information will be used to develop a program to deliver season-long biological control in vineyards       using insectaria plantings that can be applied to a broad  range of other horticultural crops.

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Where to from here?

Mary will spend the next few months carrying out an
extensive literature review and developing a detailed
project plan.

Once this planning component is completed suitable vineyard sites will be identified and data collection will commence.

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Would you like to follow Mary’s progress?

Mary will provide project updates to AHWR members at key
times during her studies and via her
blog http://retallackviti.wordpress.com/ (sign up if you
would like to receive automatic email updates when new
information is posted).

Mary Retallack is happy to answer any questions you may have regarding her PhD studies, and can be contacted at
Telephone:(08) 8339 3324 or Email: mary@viti.com.au

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Mary Retallack

Mary is a third generation viticulturist and has dedicated
her life to the Australian wine industry over the past 17
years, in a range of vineyard management, technical,
consultancy, research, training and extension roles
throughout Australia.

She commenced PhD studies at The University of Adelaide in
February 2012.

Mary is delighted to be able to work in partnership with
AHWR and acknowledges their ongoing support.